Alec Baldwin has reprised in his role as Donald Trump for the latest episode of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, identifying the US president as the true martyr of the tragic Charlottesville rally.

A 12-year-old singing ventriloquist has been awarded US$1 (A$1.3) million prize and her own Las Vegas show after taking the America's Got Talent crown on the season 12 finale of the NBC reality competition.

Trump launches harsh new personal attack after debate

Fresh off his presidential clash with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump doubled down yesterday on criticism of a former Miss Universe he accused of getting too fat, comments that could repel women voters.

Alicia Machado, who won the crown in 1996, has accused Mr Trump - whose company owned the Miss Universe pageant until last year - of calling her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping," and publicly humiliating her over her post-victory weight gain.

The morning after Ms Clinton invoked Machado's experience as an example of how the brash billionaire treats women, he lashed out at the beauty queen.

"She gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem," Mr Trump told Fox television Tuesday.

"She was the worst we ever had. The worst, the absolute worst," he added. "She was impossible."

Ms Clinton had raised Machado's case during a debate exchange over Mr Trump's assertion that the Democratic candidate did not "look presidential."

Excoriating Mr Trump for his treatment of women, she recalled that he had called Machado "Miss Piggy," and "Miss Housekeeping" because she is Latina.

"He bears many grudges, and harbors a deep racism, and he is convinced that there are lesser human beings than him."

Mr Trump is seen in 1990s footage saying Machado "weighed 118 pounds or 117 pounds (53 kilograms) and she went up to 160 or 170 (72.5 or 77 kg). So this is somebody that likes to eat."

Throughout his campaign Mr Trump has faced intense scrutiny over his treatment of women, and Ms Clinton assailed her rival on the issue.

"This is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs, and somebody who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers, who has said women don't deserve equal pay unless they do as good a job as men," she said.